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Learn Hardcore Hungarian: A hibajegyzék hosszú. - The list of defects is long.

Hardcore Hungarian
/Taking a car for technical inspection
/A hibajegyzék hosszú.

A hibajegyzék hosszú.

A hibajegyzék hosszú.

The list of defects is long.

Breakdown of A hibajegyzék hosszú.

a list of defects

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Questions & Answers about A hibajegyzék hosszú.

What does a mean in A hibajegyzék hosszú?

A is the Hungarian definite article, so it corresponds to the in English.

A useful extra point:

a is used before a consonant sound
az is used before a vowel sound

So:

a hibajegyzék = the bug list / the error list
az asztal = the table

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?

In Hungarian, the verb van (to be) is usually left out in the present tense, third person when the predicate is a noun or an adjective.

So Hungarian says literally:

A hibajegyzék hosszú.
The bug list long.

But in natural English, that means:

The bug list is long.

Compare:

Én hosszú vagyok would be wrong for this meaning, but in first person you do need the verb:
Én fáradt vagyok = I am tired
Te fáradt vagy = You are tired
Ő fáradt = He/She is tired

So in your sentence, leaving out is is completely normal.

Is hibajegyzék really one word? Why isn’t it written as two words?

Yes, hibajegyzék is one word because Hungarian very often forms compound nouns by writing the parts together.

It is built from:

hiba = error, fault, bug
jegyzék = list, register, catalog

So hibajegyzék is literally something like:

error-list
bug-list

This is very common in Hungarian. English sometimes uses two words where Hungarian prefers one compound word.

Why does hosszú come after the noun? I thought adjectives usually come before nouns.

In Hungarian, adjectives come before a noun only when they directly describe it inside a noun phrase.

So:

a hosszú hibajegyzék = the long bug list

But in your sentence, hosszú is not just modifying the noun inside the phrase. It is the predicate of the sentence:

A hibajegyzék hosszú. = The bug list is long.

So the structure is:

A hibajegyzék = subject
hosszú = predicate adjective

That is why the adjective comes after the noun here.

Does hosszú have to agree with hibajegyzék?

Not in the way an English speaker might expect from languages like French or German.

Hungarian adjectives do not agree for:

gender
grammatical case in this kind of sentence

And Hungarian has no grammatical gender anyway.

In this sentence, hibajegyzék is singular, so:

A hibajegyzék hosszú.

If the subject is plural, the predicate adjective is usually plural too:

A hibajegyzékek hosszúak. = The bug lists are long.

So the singular form is hosszú, and the plural predicate form is hosszúak.

Can I also say Hosszú a hibajegyzék?

Yes, that is possible.

Hungarian word order is flexible, and changing the order often changes the focus or emphasis, not the basic meaning.

A hibajegyzék hosszú.
Neutral statement: The bug list is long.
Hosszú a hibajegyzék.
More emphasis on long: The bug list is long / It’s long, the bug list.

So both can be correct, but the first one is the more neutral, straightforward version.

How do I pronounce hibajegyzék hosszú?

A rough pronunciation guide is:

A ≈ short aw
hibajegyzék ≈ HEE-baw-yegyz-ayk
hosszú ≈ HOS-soo

A few important spelling/pronunciation points:

j is pronounced like English y
sz is pronounced like English s
plain s is pronounced like English sh
é is a long vowel, roughly like ay in say, but purer
ú is a long oo
the accents in é and ú matter: they show long vowels

So hosszú has a long final vowel, not a short one.

What grammatical form is hibajegyzék in here?

It is in the nominative singular form, which is the basic dictionary form.

Here it functions as the subject of the sentence:

A hibajegyzék = the bug list
hosszú = is long

Hungarian often adds endings to nouns for different cases, but here there is no extra case ending because the noun is simply the subject.

What exactly does hosszú mean? Is it only for physical length?

Hosszú usually means long, and it can be used in several related senses, depending on context:

physical length: a hosszú út = the long road
duration: hosszú idő = a long time
something lengthy: hosszú lista = a long list

In A hibajegyzék hosszú, it most naturally means the list is long/lengthy, meaning it has a lot in it or takes a long form.

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